The Element of Change
by rabidfansquirrel
Summary: Water is the element of change. Although Korra's had a lot of changes lately, she realizes that sometimes, they're not so bad.


Korra liked coming here. To this path. It was one of the first places she'd been upon arriving in Republic City, and even though pretty much everything had changed since that day-she'd been kidnapped, had her bending taken away, reached the Avatar state, gotten her bending back, fallen in love, nearly become a pro-bending champion, and faced down a revolutionary leader (and won)-this garden path still remained the same.

It was a nice feeling to have something stable amongst all the change. The funny thing was she'd wanted change for her entire life before coming to Republic City-yeah, it wasn't like she'd ever wanted for anything, since she was the Avatar and all, but that didn't mean it didn't get boring as hell.

"Water is the element of change," she murmured as she stopped to stand by the stream and bend some water up in a small spiral. Although fire was her favorite element to bend-after all, it was considered to be the element of power-there was also something comforting about water. It brought back memories of her childhood, her family, and Master Katara. Water had been the first element she'd truly mastered. Ever since Tarrlok had kidnapped her-which was when she considered things in Republic City to be truly going downhill-she'd been nostalgic about her childhood. She knew she'd have to get over it sometime soon, but she didn't think that today was the day.

"I thought I'd find you here," a familiar voice said from behind her. Korra jumped and let go of the water she'd been bending. What was Asami doing here? "You really like this park," Asami added.

Korra turned. "What are you-I mean, hi, Asami. What brings you here?"

"Wanted to go for a walk," Asami said, walking over to stand next to Korra. "Hungry?" She held out a bag of granola. Asami seemed to like granola as much as Korra liked the garden path. Korra had walked into the kitchen to see Asami making it a couple of times during Asami's stay on Air Temple Island. Since all of her father's property and wealth had become hers since he'd been imprisoned, Asami had moved into an apartment in Republic City. Korra didn't see her much these days, but then again, they were all busy these days-Bolin was the captain of the Fire Ferrets now, Mako was busy working for Chief Beifong, Asami was taking control of Sato Industries, and Korra was busy doing whatever it was that fully realized Avatars did. So far it seemed to be a lot of politics. Korra wondered when it would get more interesting.

"Thanks," Korra said, taking a handful of granola. They stood there for a moment, munching.

"Can I ask you a question about waterbending?"

The tone of Asami's voice-shy-seemed out of character with the strong, smart woman Korra knew Asami to be. "Sure," said Korra, wondering what on earth Asami wanted to ask.

"Can you sculpt things out of water when you bend it?"

Korra blinked. Sculpt things? She was the Avatar, not an artist. "I-maybe," she said. "But it wouldn't matter unless you froze it, because it would lose its shape too easily. And even if you did freeze it, ice can melt and become something else too. There's a reason it's called the element of change." Korra shifted her body and bent some water from the stream into the shape of a person. "I can't do any detail," she said. The figure had no face or any distinguishing features. It wasn't even really possible to tell what gender it was supposed to be. "Maybe there are waterbenders out there who can do it. Master Katara might," she added.

"Wow," Asami breathed.

"Sculpting with bending is much easier with earth," Korra added, liking the attention Asami was giving her. She stamped her foot down and twisted her ankle to bring a chunk of rock out of the ground. A few fist thrusts and a couple of other foot movements later and she'd sculpted a rudimentary figure of Asami. Or, that's what it was supposed to be, anyway. "I'm not an artist, just the Avatar," Korra said nervously, hoping that Asami could see the resemblance. And not see it as an insult.

"Oh wow, that's me!" she said, kneeling down to look at it more closely. "Korra, this is so cool! You even got the glove!"

Korra laughed nervously, feeling her face heat up. "It's not that great," she said. "I don't have a lot of practice with detail like that."

"No, it is. I love it." Asami stood back up, smiling broadly.

"You're too nice," Korra mumbled, suddenly more shy than she normally was around Asami.

"Nonsense. I am precisely nice enough."

Korra laughed, much less nervous this time.

"Hey, Korra?"

"Yeah?"

"You wanna grab a taxi and head back to my place for dinner?"

Dinner with Asami? Hell, yes! "I-yeah, that'd be awesome," Korra said. "Let's go." She glanced back at the river before she left. Water, the element of change. Maybe change wasn't that bad, after all.


End file.
